When I went to bed on Monday (Florence – Day 1), I was exhausted in the best way possible. It had been a perfect day. Bianca, the genius behind Italian Fix  told us a taxi would be waiting for us in the morning, we were going to a place with beautiful vistas of Florence. It is to freeing to have someone else do all the planning for you! If we had taken this vacation on our own, without her, it would have been nowhere near as fun or relaxing. I did not worry the previous night about taxis, maps, places or anything else.

A ten minute drive up the hills, outside the gates to San Miniato al Monte.  This was the view that greeted us.

The photography lesson for Day 2 was People. All of us enjoyed this lesson immensely and even though I photograph people for my day job, I learned a lot from Leela’s experience. She has such a way to engage complete strangers and ask them if she can make a photograph with them in it. This is hard for me to do, even today. It is hard to step out of your comfort zone and ask a complete stranger about them, tell them a little bit about you and ask them politely if you can make a photograph of them. Leela is uber skilled at this. On cue, an elderly monk walked slowly around the building and as hard as it was to make a photograph of a complete stranger, I did.

Once again, three hours just flew by and we walked down the steps, through the huge city gates into the city of Florence. I can see why Florentines in the old days had homes outside the gated walls for leisure and hot summer days. The old city does not really have any trees or open spaces and can get stifling in the summer months.

After lunch, we headed to the shop of Maestro Alessandro Dari. IHe makes unique jewelry by hand, like a mad scientist of sorts. So brilliant and so dedicated to his craft.  You can read more about him here on his website.

After Dari, three of us headed to the Galleria dell Accademia to see David. Yes, that David. No photography is allowed inside the museum which is perhaps for the best, because really there is no way to capture the genius of Michelangelo’s sculpture. All three of us noticed, but none of us said anything till we were leaving.. and then we asked each other, “Did you think his hands and head looked out of proportion to his body?”. What kind of blasphemy is this… critiquing Michaelangelo’s artistry?? A quick google told us the reason why.. it was because the statue of David was meant to go atop a building and the proportions would have worked from that height.
The views, the lunch, Dari and David. It was time for a siesta and we headed back to the hotel. After our evening aperitif of Prosecco on the loggia at the hotel , Bianca took us to to dinner at a pizza place called Il Vico del Carmine. It is also on the Oltrarno. 

 We walked back to the hotel around midnight. Midnight on a Tuesday. You would not have known it in our piazza (santo spirito). Everyone was out and about in the bars, drinking and smoking and singing and dancing. We joined them of course and grabbed a table at a bar and chatted for an hour or more. These two could not resist joining in the festivities. 

My head hit the pillow and all I could think was.. Day 1 was incredible but Day 2 (which was supposed to be gravy) just became the main course. So good. So fun. Day 3 tomorrow!

xo, Rashmi